Ecological and Bushfire Assessment of National Broadband Network Wireless Towers

EPS has conducted ecological and/or bushfire assessments across over 100 sites as part of the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout.

EPS has worked on sites throughout the Sydney basin and the Northern and Southern Coasts, including such regions as Dubbo, Wagga, Tamworth, Armidale, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey, Taree, Western Sydney, Bega, Ulladulla and Shoalhaven.

EPS is responsible for assessing sites in accordance with the relevant regulatory framework, including assessment of ‘Matters of National Environmental Significance’ under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and the protection of threatened species, populations and communities as regulated by the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. This assessment process includes a desktop study, a subsequent field-based site assessment and ultimately a final report encompassing all data gathered including the identification of all individual trees to be retained/removed and any threatened species or endangered ecological communities that occur on or near the site.

Integrating the avoidance of ecologically significant features into site design refinement has resulted in improved ecological outcomes in collaboration with the NBN design teams.

EPS has an ongoing role in the assessment of NBN sites across NSW and will continue to provide our services for the rollout of this critical infrastructure project for Australia.

For more information on EPS ecology capabilities, contact the EPS ecology team.